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“This.” Hope waves between us. “Sage is Tristan’s girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” The guy’s eyebrows pull down. “Cool, I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”
“You don’t know everything about my life, Toby.” Tristan winks.
“Funny. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Sage,” Toby says.
“Nice to meet you, too.”
“Toby is Hudson’s best friend,” Tristan explains.
“Ahh . . . okay.” At dinner last night, Hudson and Lex mentioned his best friend’s wedding, and now I’m putting all of the pieces together.
“Anyway, we’re going to finish shopping before going to lunch at my parents’,” Hope says. “It was nice to meet you.”
“You, too.” I smile.
“That was convenient.” Tristan leans in to whisper after they’re gone.
I’m hit with his cologne, a masculine scent that makes me want to inhale like my life depends on it, all foresty and fresh.
I bet Tristan would make a great lumberjack. I’d like to see him in plaid with his shirtsleeves rolled up, swinging around an ax as if it weighs nothing.
“Why?” I look at him, furrowing my eyebrows.
“Because their wedding is right before my birthday. My parents will be there. If I show up without you, they’ll question what’s going on. Now that Hope and Toby have met you, they’ll understand when I add a plus-one.” His smile is brilliant and all white teeth.
If I’m not careful, I’ll be Red Riding Hood, and he’ll turn into the wolf. Except that instead of eating me, he’ll go after my heart.
“Wedding?” This is becoming more and more complicated.
“Yeah.” He nods and looks at me, eyes scanning my face. “It will be weird if my girlfriend doesn’t come with me.”
“Yeah, but I’m not really your girlfriend,“ I whisper. “It’ll cost them money.”
“It’s okay, Sage.” His hands land on my arms, right below my shoulders. He squeezes and smiles.
I was expecting to hang out with him, maybe go to dinner, definitely meet his parents. A wedding, meeting more friends, and who knows what else makes the situation somehow different. I remind myself of the money and take a deep breath before nodding.
It will be okay.
I can pretend we’re not deceiving his friends and family. Couples break up all the time, so when the time is right, that’s what we’ll say happened to us. It was nice while it lasted, we’ll say, but we realized we had no future.
“Better?” he asks when my shoulders relax.
“Yeah.”
“Good. Now, let’s finish getting what we need.”
Once we’ve paid and returned to my car outside Good Eats, I place my grocery bags in the trunk and look at Tristan.
“Put yours in here, too. I’ll take you home, so you don’t have to carry them to your apartment.”
“It’s not too far.” He shakes his head.
“Don’t be stubborn.” I cross my arms. “You got a gallon of milk, and that gets heavy.”
“Have you seen these guns?” He lifts the bags, including the one with the milk, and flexes his biceps.
